Brewing Beer at the White House - First Homebrewer President

Brewing Beer at the White House - First Homebrewer President Lots of American presidents enjoyed their booze, and many brewed their own beer. George Washington was well known as a  home brewer and made  his own porter and whiskey at Mount Vernon. Thomas Jefferson did the same thing at  Monticello. But  the first American president known to have brewed his own beer on the grounds of the White House in  Washington, D.C. was Barack Obama, who made porter and ale beginning in his first term. As far as we know the White House Honey Brown Ale is the first alcohol brewed or distilled on the White House grounds, wrote  Sam Kass, the White House senior policy adviser on  nutrition  policy, in September 2012. George Washington brewed beer and distilled whiskey at Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson made wine but theres no evidence that any beer has been brewed in the White House. Obama as Home Brewer Obama began brewing beer in 2011 after the president bought his first home-brewing kit. He started brewing beer because he was in search of a hobby, according  to  published reports. Shortly after his home-brewing activities were made public, the  American Homebrewers Association made Obama a lifetime member. Though beer has long been part of the country’s history and traditions, Obama made history when, as president, he purchased a homebrewing kit and then - alongside chef Kass - spearheaded the effort to brew White House Honey Ale, the first beer known to have been brewed in the White House, the association wrote. About the Obama White House Beer The Obama staff made at least three difference styles of beer: a brown ale, a porter, and a blonde ale. All three were brewed with honey that was drawn from a beehive on the South Lawn of the White House. The honey gives the beer a rich aroma and a nice finish but it doesnt sweeten it, the White House said of the ingredient. The names of the  Obama White House beers were: White House Honey Brown AleWhite House Honey PorterWhite House Honey Blonde When Obama ran for a second term in  the 2012 presidential election, he  stocked his campaign buses with the White House brews. While  the White House brewed  the beer, it did not market or sell the beer publicly. It did,  however, publish the recipes for likeminded home brewers to try. Both the brown ale and honey porter were given good marks by fellow home brewers. Remarked Ray Daniels, in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek:  Ã¢â‚¬Å"They are both pretty malty and on the sweeter side of the scale in overall balance. That will certainly make them crowd pleasers or at least unobjectionable to a broad range of people.† Wrote critic Gary Dzen in The Boston Globe: The White House knew what they were doing when they brewed this beer. Its approachable enough to serve to casual beer enthusiasts but flavorful enough to be interesting to those of us who know what we want our beer to taste like. Why Beer for Obama Obama is a beer drinker who was known to invite members of Congress and other important figures in American politics to the White House to talk and quaff a brew or two. In 2009, for example, Obama called what came to be known as a beer summit between himself,  Vice President Joe Biden, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Cambridge, Mass. police Sergeant James Crowley.  Obama invited the men to the White House to talk over beers after police in Crowleys force arrested  Gates at his home.

10 Neon Facts †Chemical Element

10 Neon Facts - Chemical Element Neon is element number 10 on the periodic table, with the element symbol Ne. While you might think of neon lights when you hear this element name, there are many other interesting properties and uses for this gas. Here are 10 neon facts: Each neon atom has 10 protons. There are three stable isotopes of the element, with atoms having 10 neutrons (neon-20), 11 neutrons (neon-21), and 12 neutrons (neon-22). Because it has a stable octet for its outer electron shell, neon atoms have 10 electrons and no net electrical charge. The first two valence electrons are in the s shell, while the other eight electrons are in the p shell. The element is in group 18 of the periodic table, making it the first noble gas with a full octet (helium is lighter and stable with only 2 electrons). Its the second lightest noble gas.At room temperature and pressure, neon is an odorless, colorless, diamagnetic gas. It belongs to the noble gas element group and shares the property with other elements of that group of being nearly inert (not very reactive). In fact, there are no known stable  neon compounds, even though some other noble gases have been found to form chemical bonds. A possible exception is solid neon clathrate hydrate, which may be formed from neon gas and water ice at pressure of 0.35-0.48 GPa. The name of the element comes from the Greek word novum or neos, which means new. British chemists Sir William  Ramsay and Morris W. Travers discovered the element in 1898. Neon was discovered in a sample of liquid air. The gases that escaped were identified as nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and krypton. When the krypton was gone, the remaining gas was found to emit a bright red light when ionized. Ramsays son suggested the name for the new element, neon.Neon is both rare and abundant, depending where youre looking for it. Although neon is a rare gas in the Earths atmosphere (about 0.0018% by mass), it is the 5th most abundant element in the universe  (1 part per 750), where it is produced during the alpha process in stars. The sole source of neon is from extraction from liquefied air. Neon is also found in diamonds and some volcanic vents. Because neon is rare in air, its an expensive gas to produce, about 55 times more expensive than liquid helium.Even though its rare and expensive o n Earth, there is a fair amount of neon in the average home. If you could extract all the neon from a new home in the United States, you have about 10 liters of the gas! Neon is a monatomic gas, so it is lighter (less dense) than air, which consists mostly of nitrogen (N2). If a balloon is filled with neon, it will rise. However, this will occur at a much slower rate than you would see with a helium balloon. As with helium, inhaling neon gas poses an asphyxiation risk if not enough oxygen is available to breathe.Neon has many uses besides lighted signs. It is also used in helium-neon lasers, masers,  vacuum tubes, lightning arresters, and high-voltage indicators. The liquid form of the element is a cryogenic refrigerant. Neon is 40 times more effective as a refrigerant than liquid helium and 3 times better than liquid hydrogen. Because of its high refrigeration capacity, liquid neon is used in cryonics, to freeze corpses for preservation or for potential revival in the future. The liquid can cause immediate frostbite to exposed skin or mucous membranes.When low pressure neon gas is electrified, it glows reddish orange. This is the true color of neo n lights. Other colors of lights are produced by coating the interior of the glass with phosphors. Other gases glow when excited. These are not neon signs even though many people commonly assume they are. One of the more interesting facts about neon is the light emitted from ionized neon can pass through water fog. This is why neon lighting is used in cold regions and for aircraft and airports.Neon has a melting point of  Ã¢â‚¬â€˜248.59  Ã‚ °C (‑415.46  Ã‚ °F) and boiling point of  Ã¢â‚¬â€˜246.08  Ã‚ °C (‑410.94  Ã‚ °F). Solid neon forms a crystal with a close-packed cubic structure. Because of its stable octet, the electronegativity and electron affinity of neon approaches zero.